Interim Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer — Operations Recovery

A year in which the front line decides as one

The test of this twelve-month interim appointment is simple to state. By the end of it, the people running operations day to day should be making quality, capacity and cost decisions together, rather than in three separate conversations that meet only when something goes wrong. In the first ninety days that begins with a single framework for supply chain and operations decisions, with thresholds clear enough that every operating leader knows what they can decide and what they cannot. Around month nine front-line leaders should own their quality, capacity and cost exceptions themselves, and the committee should be able to see how each one rises when it needs to. By month 12 the recovered operating rhythm and the leadership structure behind it should be in place and able to run after the interim officer leaves.

Executive authority across quality, capacity and cost

The officer reports to the Board Operations Committee and holds executive authority. You will set one decision framework for supply chain and operations, select the evidence that governs investment, capacity and controls, and choose which inherited commitments proceed, pause or stop. Proposals that move cost or exposure with no one answerable are yours to reject, as are investment cases silent on take-up, dependencies, or the damage if the change underperforms. Approval of the leadership structure and of escalation routes rests with you, and you settle disputes between the committee and the operators before any money goes out.

Bringing quality, capacity and cost together is as much cultural as procedural. In many operations, quality teams are trained to stop, capacity planners to fill and finance to trim, and each is right on its own terms. A strong supply chain leader builds a forum in which all three are weighed in the same decision, by people with the authority to make it, and then protects that forum when the first difficult trade-off tempts everyone back into their silos.

A supply chain leader shaped by culture reset

The supply chain and operations you have run should have reached, at minimum, $850 million in revenue and 2,600 people across five countries, and you can distinguish local judgement that is genuinely necessary from variation that persists by habit. Culture reset is the most relevant experience, alongside integration and professionalisation. The capability profile places operating cadence at level 4, with operating model, network footprint, and quality and safety at level 3. You should be able to name a well-supported commitment you brought to an end, what persuaded you and the capacity that freed, and a baseline you set that held up under challenge from both a board and the operators closest to the work.

From committee call to board table

The Board Operations Committee meets you first, privately by video, during the opening week. The Risk Committee Chair spends a working session with you in the third. Week five gathers executive leaders from each function for an in-person panel, and the seventh week closes with the full board of directors. A verdict in writing follows each stage within four working days.